I love Google. I use Google about a million times a day and when I found their new beta project about having books online for you to read I thought it was great… but I might be alone in that.

Business Week Online has an article detailing the struggle Google is having with their new service. The article is called A New Page in Google’s Book Fight.

The gist of the article discusses how publishers are upset with this new technology because they fear it will hinder sales. And the article sites how a group called Google-Watch.org, posted a heretofore confidential contract between Google and the University of Michigan. (That’s not very nice in my opinion. Google Watch should be ashamed of themselves for violating a trust)

Regardless, this is an interesting controversy in the publishing world and if you’re interested, click on over and read the full article.

I have a true confession to make, when I was in junior high and high school I loved to read books that I checked out at the school library. In fact, during those years in my life I read 5 books a week. Granted, most of those books were only about 120 pages, but for a kid that’s not too shabby.

So whenever I come across a story that discusses parental rights versus what the school, and the school board deems appropriate for children I have to look into it.

Today I found an “editorial” at a blog called aptly, “Editorials” which interestingly enough is found at www.readingeagle.com . Anyway, the post is called Books Are Returned to Rightful Places and I found it interesting….especially in light of a recent DVD I viewed called Heart of the Beholder.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

If you are visiting for the first time please take a look at the current books we have available.

The number is UNDERNEATH the graphic and if you’re interested, please sign up to be a reviewer with Mind & Media!

It’s a lot of fun and totally FREE to reviewers.

Claudia Parsons wrote this great article about Christian books booming right now.

Here’s an excerpt from the article

By Claudia Parsons
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Christian girls just want to have fun too, and the U.S. publishing industry is working overtime to cater to a growing demand for good, clean fun.

Sales of religious books are booming, and the category has much more to offer than just bibles and prayer books.

From Christian chick lit to frank discussions of sexuality and how to avoid temptation, the shelves of both Christian bookstores and secular chains offer a variety of wholesome reading that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

According to the Book Industry Study Group, which uses data from all sectors of the industry, total U.S. book sales rose 2.8 percent in 2004 to $28.6 billion, while religious books saw 11 percent growth to nearly $2 billion.

Calculating exact sales is difficult, however, and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association says sales of its members’ books is an annual $2.38 billion.

Finish the article

And guess what - if these people start to use Mind & Media they will be booming even more!

Today I read this story about the new Harry Potter book coming out …

Record sales seen
for new Potter book

Barnes & Noble expects ‘Half-Blood Prince’ book to top a million pre-orders.

Barnes & Noble said yesterday that pre-orders for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” have topped 750,000 copies, well ahead of the pace of the last Potter book, which came out two years ago.